Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
There was a lot to unpack from the 45-minute information session. After all, three different governmental units evaluated the issue for over three years. We had not had a debriefing on the issue in a year. And the issue was an emerging one, ripe with complexity and uncertainty. Effective communication can be difficult in these types of information sessions.
I am often asked about the application of detection in FMEAs. When and how to assess for the risk of detection can be confusing. Here are some pointers for when and how to use detection in an FMEA.
Andy Benoit once said, “Most geniuses — especially those who lead others — prosper not by deconstructing intricate complexities but by exploiting unrecognized simplicities.”
This statement is so true when corporate leaders and managers tend to over-complicate processes or over-engineer systems in organizations. Designing and implementing your organization’s enterprise-wide risk management system is no exception.
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The Rate of Occurrence of Failure (ROCOF) curve is the sum of all the individual component failure curves across the service life of an asset. As shown below, it looks like a bathtub, giving it the nickname, a bathtub curve.
Equipment reliability is malleable by choice of policy and quality of practice.
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Another of the most commonly asked questions about quality engineering is “What is Six Sigma and how is it used in quality engineering?”
Six Sigma is a data-driven approach to continuous improvement that aims to reduce defects and variability in products, processes, and systems. It is based on the idea that by identifying and addressing the root causes of defects and variability, organizations can significantly improve the quality of their products and processes. Six Sigma is used to identify and eliminate defects and variability by collecting and analyzing data, identifying patterns and trends, and implementing process improvements.
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The U.S. Government has extended the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) to 2014. TRIA is intended to support insurance companies in case the claims from a terror incident go above a certain threshold.
What is interesting are the exclusions used by the government for this reinsurance.
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Despite their shared emphasis on maintenance, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) are not competing strategies.
Manufacturers can create a powerful synergy to leverage the strengths of each if they understand their respective strengths. Such a combination leads to exceptional reliability, cost-effective maintenance, and improved corporate culture – if implemented successfully. [Read more…]
There are a lot of keen insights in the 2022 FINESSE guest articles for improving communication skills. Looking back on this bold collection reminds me that much good work, and systems thinking, is still needed for as we move into the future.
Is there a single theme that we can gain from the 2022 guest articles that makes it easier to communicate information related to work-related decisions with complexity and uncertainty? Is there one thing we can do to be an effective trusted advisor? The answer to both is “not really.” [Read more…]
The late quality guru W. Edwards Deming advised graphing the process variables and the process outputs across time on a run chart (a time-series plot) to identify uncertainty and variability. When the run charts are used together, they help to identify the times and causes of poor results.
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Are project risks round? Curved objects can be less controllable than planar ones as they pitch, roll and yaw; and the tighter their curves the more difficult control becomes. Even a truly planar surface is, geometrically, a curve but with an infinite radius. The Earth’s horizon, that imaginary plane perpendicular to its radius is considered by some to be ‘flat’ but in reality it’s a sphere so we can never see over the horizon. But what has this got to do with project risk?
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Nonparametric, age-specific field reliability estimates helped deal with a Customer’s bad experience using a Hewlett-Packard part in the Customer’s product: 110 part failures out of 3001 shipped in the first five months. Comparison of HP population vs. Customer reliability estimates showed the Customer’s infant mortality was not typical. Using population ships and failures or returns data eliminated sample uncertainty from the HP population field reliability estimate.
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The reactivity of a chemical or a mixture is normally assessed by thermal analysis. Thus the thermal analysis data forms the basis of risk mitigation decisions. What does the thermal analysis data tell us and how to base risk mitigation decisions? How to tell which compositions are more reactive and should be scrutinized closely?
Missing from the current body of knowledge is a simple classification to help rank compositions in order of their reactivity.
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After 30 minutes of being on hold, I wasn’t sure what to expect from customer service for a product reliability issue. The scratchy soundtrack didn’t foretell a great experience either.
Once connected to a company representative, we resolved the issue quickly and satisfactorily. Unfortunately, that was a pleasant surprise. All too often, the frequently repeated “Your call is important to us.” (an Amazon affiliate link) just isn’t true, in my experience.
Did you know that customer service can add significant value to an organization, especially when product reliability doesn’t meet customers’ expectations? Besides providing the team with valuable product reliability performance information for past products, the service team can improve customer loyalty.
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With nearly four (4) decades of experience in Reliability, Maintenance and Safety in my rear-view mirror now, I’ve gotten to pondering about what have I actually learned? What has been my purpose? For those who don’t know me you can learn more about my career pathway by visiting my LinkedIn Profile. In short, I’ve been a practitioner, consultant, educator, author, businessman, mentor and thought-influencer (don’t like the term ‘Leader’, sounds too cocky).
Given all this ‘wisdom’ (polite term for dues paid in years or the state of being ‘old-er’), what have I really learned?
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Sometimes it is easier to start with what not to do. That is often the case for technically trained professionals who are often not the best natural communicators. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and international standards for the visually and hearing impaired provide good guardrails.
These are five basics that should be considered as a minimum standard.
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